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The Startup Act Could Help More Founders Launch Their Ideas.

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Koni Mabinda

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A number of countries, Rwanda and Italy, passed the startup act. That is as a founder is launching their business, they get paid a monthly salary for say like two or three years when the startup will be on its own two feet. This is because as most founders are launching their businesses, they need to put a roof over their head and have food on the table, two things that make many a founder quit and work a 9 to 5 corporate job. The world would would be worth more trillions of dollars in increased wealth if more founders could be unveiled a stable source of income. This is not about bringing comfort for an entrepreneur. It’s about ensuring they have the bare necessities in order to function properly. If you stretch beyond the elastic limit, you will eventually snap, and this is not about it.

True, too much comfort and creativity don’t sit together, you need a certain level of discomfort to be able to innovate properly, but remember that entrepreneurship is also about taking calculated risks. That is you jump off a cliff but with a parachute on. Mark Zuckerberg in a commencement address in 2017 to Harvard graduates, said that he founded Facebook only because he could afford to. That is he knew even if Facebook floundered, he could still get a good corporate job and still live a good prosperous life. Which is to say that if we availed a startup act, then we could have people pursuing opportunities well into their third or fourth year after graduation. The number of companies that could be founded as a result of this could simply be mind boggling.

To ensure its a win win situation, the government could probably take 30 percent of an equity stake in those startups so the money is then reinvested in other startups. In that way, we will build an ecosystem where ideas and innovation flourishes. Especially for people that come from lower income communities, such an opportunity could be godsend. We already have a certain image on what a founder should look like but if we created a startup act, we could well have over five million people working on their ideas that then they will bring onto the market. This is how we will be able to catalyse the innovation space in America, and ensure that America is at the absolute bleeding edge of innovation. When we add free open office spaces around every American city, then we will find that we have an opportunity to remake the American economy in a whole new way.

Get this book: Give us Your Best And Brightest: How does Africa tackle brain drain? Read sample below and if you can kindly make a purchase.

Get this book: What Goes Into Choosing a Career. Read the sample below and if you can kindly make a purchase.

Get this book: The 1% Continent: How Africa Can Rise Up. Read the sample below and if you can kindly make a purchase.

Get this book. Remaking America: Here is how America can bounce back. Read the sample below and if you can, kindly make a purchase.

Get this book: The Western Media Agenda Against Africa. Read the sample below and if you can, kindly make a purchase.

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    Many companies when asked what their social media strategy is will say they post on the main social media channels and so have quite a good engagement with customers. But is that really it? Is positing akin to having a great social media strategy? What then should be the effective social media strategy for a…

  • The Amount Of Dead Capital-$10 Trillion Dollars. Why We Should Formalize Informal Businesses.

    Peruvian Nobel Prize winning Economist Hernando De Soto estimates that the amount of dead capital in the world is $10 trillion dollars, that is wealth that cannot be accounted for. This is money that is out of the formal systems of banking, accounting, and finance. Which is just to say that this money has to…

  • Why Do Founders Hold Onto So Little Of Their Companies?

    One of the great innovations of America is the private equity firms. And with that, the rise of the venture capital firms. Previously, it is banks that loaned businesses money for growth and expansion. But then, came intangible wealth in form of ideas and knowledge. Then, banks had no conception of such businesses and it’s…

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Hello,

Collins Mabinda Okango

About Collins Mabinda Okango Koni. I comment on the intersection of politics, business, education, management, and technology. I was a columnist for the Star Newspaper and my articles appeared in global publications such as The White House. Here’s a snippet.

An official website of the United States government

AFRICA’S YOUTH MUST TAKE UP CHALLENGE TO DEVELOP AFRICA

By YOUNG AFRICAN LEADERS INITIATIVE

3 MINUTE READ

YALI Network Member Collins Mabinda recent op-ed in All Africa: 

Recently, I joined a network of young Africans who are each working in a myriad of ways to develop the continent. I joined the Young African Leaders Initiative Network, which is an initiative of the United States government and African countries. The initiative seeks to promote a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Africa that is open for business, entrepreneurship, and civic opportunities.

Each of the YALI network members has pledged to help develop Africa in their own little way.


Among the YALI network members, there is a flourishing farmer in Morogoro, Tanzania, a civic leader in Lagos, Nigeria who is fighting against malaria in a sprawling slum in Lagos, and a Zimbabwean entrepreneur who founded the first innovation hub in Zimbabwe, Hypercube. Some of the YALI network members will be chosen to become Mandela Fellows, which will see them attend leading institutions in the United States for eight weeks. An additional small group will stay behind and be offered internship opportunities in leading companies in the US. Ultimately, the fellowship will culminate in a a summit between African leaders and leading American figures.

The partnership between the United States and Africa is now informed by the fact that Africa has to move from the periphery of world affairs, and move to the centre, where it becomes part and parcel of the global conversation.

This is an Africa that will be known for its opportunities and will be at the desk of policymakers in the White House, London, and other global capitals is what we seek as YALI network members.


Evidently, not all of us will be selected to become Mandela Fellows. However, I urge even those who will not be selected to become Mandela Fellows to continue engaging in the various networking opportunities, and work to build Africa one step at a time. One day, their efforts will be rewarded, and they will get other opportunities to showcase their talents.

Moreover, as young Africans, it is our duty to ensure that we create a new narrative for Africa. Africa is on the brink of takeoff, never mind a few instabilities here and there. It would be a tragedy if outsiders see Africa’s potential, but Africans don’t see this potential.

https://yali.state.gov/africas-youth-must-take-up-challenge-to-develop-africa

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